Powergirl Appreciation 2019

[achilles]

Ultimately, DC seemed to distance her because the JSA franchise was doing pretty well at the time and they gave her that team and later her own book and a second JSA book to headline. They were doing their best to make her one of the protagonists of the JSA corner, and considering New Krypton was in full swing, she couldn't really commute between those books and the Super office. Too many things to untangle. She got her big push in the late 2000s so I think PG's time has come and gone, so to speak, but I'm hoping that they do pull her back into the Super office just a bit when she returns. I want her to be among the "big three" of the JSA's newer kids, but she should absolutely be a Super character as well.

Well, considering that some of the same characters pushed with PG are still going strong, I'd say DC can turn her around any time they want. IMO, both the Superman Family and the JSA need to be prominent for the character.

[Robanker]

Well, considering that some of the same characters pushed with PG are still going strong, I'd say DC can turn her around any time they want. IMO, both the Superman Family and the JSA need to be prominent for the character.

I'd love to be wrong, but considering DC Superhero girls mined PG's characterization and look sans costume for their Supergirl and how DC usually handles alternate versions of a character (like Robin), I think it's more likely the things people like about PG will slowly be added to Supergirl and render Karen redundant. I'd love to be wrong, but from JSA through Earth 2 she was in continuous publication and her arc ended by regressing her into Supergirl (complete with getting the crest of L on her chest, which is argue is worse than a blank solid leotard) and shunting her off into limbo. I get the feeling they are done with PG for a bit.

[Frontier]

I'd love to be wrong, but considering DC Superhero girls mined PG's characterization and look sans costume for their Supergirl and how DC usually handles alternate versions of a character (like Robin), I think it's more likely the things people like about PG will slowly be added to Supergirl and render Karen redundant. I'd love to be wrong, but from JSA through Earth 2 she was in continuous publication and her arc ended by regressing her into Supergirl (complete with getting the crest of L on her chest, which is argue is worse than a blank solid leotard) and shunting her off into limbo. I get the feeling they are done with PG for a bit.

Personally I don't see "tough girl" Supergirl catching on outside DCSHG.

I mean, I think partially it's there to balance the personalities on the show, but Melissa Benoist's Kara seems way more popular.

[Ascended]

Personally I don't see "tough girl" Supergirl catching on outside DCSHG.

I mean, I think partially it's there to balance the personalities on the show, but Melissa Benoist's Kara seems way more popular.

Yeah, I wouldn't put much stock in the new DCSHG having a ton of pull as far as characterization goes. Each member of the cast is bent around a particular personality archetype, whether it's a good fit or not. Jessica Cruz, Bumblebee, Supergirl, Batgirl.....they're all quite different on the show than they are in comics or other adaptations.

The woman who did my little pony did the new DC show, and all she did was recycle the same archetypes from ponies for DC. It actually seems a little lazy, honestly.

But I wouldn't be so sure about the CW show being more popular. It's got less than a million viewers right? Take a look at how much DCSHG merchandise sells. If anything, I'd say the CW has a much smaller and limited demographic.

Sorry, don't mind me. My daughter is a huge, huge, huge fan of both DCSHG and ponies, so I know way more about this crap than a grown man should.

[Robanker]

Yeah, I wouldn't put much stock in the new DCSHG having a ton of pull as far as characterization goes. Each member of the cast is bent around a particular personality archetype, whether it's a good fit or not. Jessica Cruz, Bumblebee, Supergirl, Batgirl.....they're all quite different on the show than they are in comics or other adaptations.

The woman who did my little pony did the new DC show, and all she did was recycle the same archetypes from ponies for DC. It actually seems a little lazy, honestly.

But I wouldn't be so sure about the CW show being more popular. It's got less than a million viewers right? Take a look at how much DCSHG merchandise sells. If anything, I'd say the CW has a much smaller and limited demographic.

Sorry, don't mind me. My daughter is a huge, huge, huge fan of both DCSHG and ponies, so I know way more about this crap than a grown man should.

I use DCSHG as just an example of how they mine other or lesser utilized-at-the-time iterations to bolster the current one they're selling. John getting some of Hal's villains, role as the greatest and his overall position in the corps in the animated series. Dick wearing Tim's costume and using his bo staff in Titans. Wally using Barry's rogues. Barry taking on some of the new powers Wally developed, taking Zolomon and adapting Wally's personality into his own. It goes on, and most characters do it so I won't pretend it hasn't benefited my darlings as much as it's harmed them. If Supergirl is in their lower A or upper B list, PG is lower B or somewhere in the C list and they would absolutely harvest Karen to bolster Supergirl any day of the week. Maybe not in personality, but I can see them shunting SG off to the JSA so she can get team exposure at PG's expense.

I sincerely doubt there's someone at DC who would plant their feet and prevent such a thing from happening for Power Girl. If anything, the only creators who seem to want to do anything with her are Jimmy/Amanda (I asked them during a DCU Q&A and they answered they'd enjoy working on her again) and Chris Priest, and sadly I don't think either have enough pull to really protect PG's relevance. Luckily, DC's vision for Supergirl has thus far been very different than Power Girl's characterization so she's not in immediate risk of being Draked.

On the subject of DCSHG, I've seen an episode and while it's not for me, I think it looks pretty cool for its target demographic and they seem to enjoy it so I think that's pretty rad.

[WonderNight]

One of the ways us fans can help pg not get taken in by supergirl is to buy alot of power girl. If Karen starts bring in as money as kara DC will start looking out for Karen alot more.

[Frontier]

But I wouldn't be so sure about the CW show being more popular. It's got less than a million viewers right? Take a look at how much DCSHG merchandise sells. If anything, I'd say the CW has a much smaller and limited demographic.

Sorry, don't mind me. My daughter is a huge, huge, huge fan of both DCSHG and ponies, so I know way more about this crap than a grown man should.

I mean, it's probably lost viewers but I don't think there's any denying it's been the most prominent display of Supergirl to audiences and people, especially when it is actually focused on her.

[kjn]

Yeah, I wouldn't put much stock in the new DCSHG having a ton of pull as far as characterization goes. Each member of the cast is bent around a particular personality archetype, whether it's a good fit or not. Jessica Cruz, Bumblebee, Supergirl, Batgirl.....they're all quite different on the show than they are in comics or other adaptations.

The woman who did my little pony did the new DC show, and all she did was recycle the same archetypes from ponies for DC. It actually seems a little lazy, honestly.

To be fair to Lauren Faust, the archetypes she used for MLP:FIM are very, very old and can be found in lots of places. There is a rather convincing set of parallels between MLP, the Spice Girls, and the Greek goddesses of the Olympos here. So using that as a basis for DCSHG would be eminently sensible. Maybe a bit formulaic, but it's a proven template.

But then you have to put in the work to find the DC characters you need that fits those archetypes. It's there Faust and DC might have failed.

[Vordan]

One of the ways us fans can help pg not get taken in by supergirl is to buy alot of power girl. If Karen starts bring in as money as kara DC will start looking out for Karen alot more.

Very disappointed DC didn’t let Priest write that Karen and Tanya mini, I would’ve definitely bought that.

[juan678]

Tales from the Dark Universe: Infinite Crisis #1 - Wonder Woman, Power Girl and Supergirl by Nathan Szerdy

[The_Lurk]

One of the ways us fans can help pg not get taken in by supergirl is to buy alot of power girl. If Karen starts bring in as money as kara DC will start looking out for Karen alot more.

Easier said than done. There sadly ain't that much dedicated PG material. Would buy a TP collecting the 4 issues from 1988 in a heartbeat though. Or a cool wall scroll.

Tales from the Dark Universe: Infinite Crisis #1 - Wonder Woman, Power Girl and Supergirl by Nathan Szerdy

Yeay... I guess. Its Dark Multiverse; so its probably gonna be gross

[kjn]

Yeay... I guess. Its Dark Multiverse; so its probably gonna be gross

To be fair, it's written by Tynion, who I've mostly read good things by, and seems to have a strong handle on the characterisation of most DC heroes. On the other hand, I think this is a variant cover, so I guess it's an open question how much Power girl or Supergirl or Wonder Woman there will be in it.

[achilles]

I'd love to be wrong, but considering DC Superhero girls mined PG's characterization and look sans costume for their Supergirl and how DC usually handles alternate versions of a character (like Robin), I think it's more likely the things people like about PG will slowly be added to Supergirl and render Karen redundant. I'd love to be wrong, but from JSA through Earth 2 she was in continuous publication and her arc ended by regressing her into Supergirl (complete with getting the crest of L on her chest, which is argue is worse than a blank solid leotard) and shunting her off into limbo. I get the feeling they are done with PG for a bit.

Well, since I'm not their target audience for that title, I don't quite know how SG is portrayed, but I've long been of the opinion that DC seems to be moving in the direction of getting rid of PG in favor of SG, with the Tanya Spears thing being what convinced me. Once you start handing out the character's superhero name to unrelated characters, and parcelling out part of the core characteristics of that character to the parent character, as started to happen instantly when they brought back SG...that seems to be where you're aiming.

The only thing is they keep using her in covers and sometimes interior art, though without any dialogue or even acknowledgment from other characters. Why do that if you getting rid of the character? OTOH, why not actually use her in any meaningful way for YEARS while major storylines evolve and change the environment she's facing in the DCU completely?

[achilles]

One of the ways us fans can help pg not get taken in by supergirl is to buy alot of power girl. If Karen starts bring in as money as kara DC will start looking out for Karen alot more.

Considering as was said that she just hasn't very many solo stories to arrange into trades, and has not actually featured in a DC Comic in years, and then only very sporadically for years more, that will be very hard. That said, there was a time when she had the top dollars sales for the month for DC merch for a couple of statues back in the solo tile plus JSA years. So it isn't impossible, but she'll have to be back in the DCU in a major way, and probably also have figured into either a TV series or movie in a major way before she can again pull any kind of merch numbers. And really, she's likely going to have to be established as some sort of major player in the DCU, and given much firmer backstory and supporting characters, even probably her own...non real DCU city. All the sort of things the big merch movers, including SG, already have.

[achilles]

To be fair, it's written by Tynion, who I've mostly read good things by, and seems to have a strong handle on the characterisation of most DC heroes. On the other hand, I think this is a variant cover, so I guess it's an open question how much Power girl or Supergirl or Wonder Woman there will be in it.

Probably little of PG. Seems to be more to focus on other characters. That said, she was at least THERE for Infinite Crisis, even if contrary to promises at the time, she wasn't a major part of that story. So maybe she's in it. It's an okay variant, I suppose. But there's little drama on that cover. Very unlike the 'peril' cover during that Earth 2 stuff, which I admit was probably the best cover like that ever done for PG, the one where she's facing a towering Darkseid alone. THAT was a very effective painted cover. This...well, the ONLY reason it gets me going is that it has PG, but I'm guessing she figures little into the story itself, much like she did in IC the first time around.